Parents Post Reward in Webster Case

The parents of a Graduate School of Design student missing for more than seven weeks yesterday made what police have called a "desperation" attempt to aid the search for their daughter, Joan L. Webster, by offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to her "present whereabouts."

At a press conference held with state police officials who are coordinating the continuing investigation, George and Terry Webster said they still have hope that their daughter--last seen November 28 at the baggage claim area of Eastern Airlines at Logan Airport--will be found alive.

"We are still hopeful, but as time goes on, hope grows thinner," George Webster said. He added that the reward money, designed to motivate individuals who may have seen his daughter to come forward to police, "is a long shot, but we have to try it."

Lt. Col. John R. O'Donovan, chief of detectives of Massachusetts state police, at the conference confirmed published reports that state investigators have decided to question several potential witnesses with the aid of a hypnotist.

And Saul L. Chafin, chief of University police, said in an interview yesterday that in the next few days his department plans to question about 200 individuals who were passengers on Eastern flights that landed at Logan Airport shortly after Webster arrived there.

The second year graduate student was returning from a Thanksgiving holiday vacation with her family in Glen Ridge, New Jersey, when she disappeared.

George Webster said at the conference that Eastern Airlines has been slow to provide ac- curate passenger lists for the police investigation, but Chafin said he expects several more lists within the next two or three days.

Passengers on Webster's flight from New Jersey have already been questioned by police.

Several persons who have told state police they saw a car parked along Route 107 a few hours after Webster disappeared will undergo hypnosis, state police officials said. But they declined to disclose the identity of the witnesses or the hypnotist, and when the examination under hypnosis will occur.

George Webster said yesterday's announcement of the reward was timed to coincide with the Harvard community's return from Christmas vacation. "We're hoping that somebody who missed the initial round of publicity will catch it this time," he said Sunday.

A toll-free phone line has been set up, staffed by friends of the Webster family, to receive information from individuals who think they may have seen Joan Webster since her disappearance, the number is: 800-952-7408.

The reward is being offered directly by the Websters, although at least a portion of it is reportedly being supplied by George Webster's employer, International Telephone and Telegraph, Inc. (ITT). Webster said Sunday that ITT security personnel were helping him to monitor police progress in the investigation.

Chafin said Sunday that the reward offer is "not a last stage" in the investigation, but is "something one would do in desperation, maybe."

Webster is described as 5-ft., 2-in, and 120 pounds, with brown hair and eyes. In 1980 she left a high-paying job in a New York City architectural firm to pursue her master's degree at Harvard. She received her undergraduate degree from Syracuse University in 1978.

Webster had resided in Perkins Hall this year, as a dorm assistant